The Freckled Farm Soap Company

Tag: South of the James

  • Returning to South of the James

    ***UPDATE: We are NOT doing any in person markets or craft shows until Covid-19 has passed. We are maintaining the free shipping on orders $30+ for the foreseeable future.***

    We had a bit of a false start earlier this month. We had decided to return to the drive-through/preorder portion of the South of the James Farmers Market the first weekend of June. After a week of constant promotion we hadn’t made enough sales to cover the cost of the market and made the decision to mail out the orders that we had received rather than attending the market. It seemed like this was the case across the board and SOJ recently made the decision to shorten the length of the drive-through at the request of vendors. At the time we were not yet ready to return to the walk-through portion so we decided to step back until we were ready to return to the market as a whole. We spent the last few weeks watching the numbers trend down in Virginia and thought it might be a good time to return before we potentially saw another spike, so we made the decision to return to the full market next weekend (June 27th). If the time of Covid has taught us anything it’s that you can’t plan too far into the future, and because of this we are just taking our schedule for the market week by week. If we see the numbers spike or we feel the mask and distance rules are not taken seriously enough we will step back and reassess. We may be there a week, we may be back for good… at this point we are taking it week by week and trying to make the best decision for our family and business.

    How this will work…

    South of the James at Bryan Park (note that SOJ is not currently operating at Forest Hill Park)

    8am-9am – Drive through and preorder only

    9:15-11:45 – Walk through and preorder if you prefer

    All customers must wear masks and are not allowed within the vendors’ tents. All vendors will be wearing masks and gloves. We will not be giving change. Credit cards are preferred.

    You can place your preorder for both portions of the market in two ways:

    • Our website. Use the shipping options “SOJ Pick Up” at check out. Orders must be placed by Midnight on Thursday.
    • SOJ’s Pre-order system (order from many of your favorite vendors all in one place) through Lulus. Orders must be placed by Noon on Thursday – https://growrva.luluslocalfood.com/

    Since customers are not allowed within the tents we are having to reconfigure our set up and will have to bring less product than normal. If you are looking for specific products we strongly suggest you preorder to make sure you get exactly what you want.

    As for the lowered threshold for free shipping, we are still not able to vend at the Charlottesville City Market so it will remain in place. There has actually been discussion about keeping it indefinitely because our customers have been so appreciative. We are mailing out orders placed by 5pm (EST) the next business day, so if you are uncomfortable coming out to the market you can still place your order online and receive your soap quickly.

    Thank you again for all of your support during this difficult time.

  • Arts in the Park and Lotion Release!

    We have another incredible weekend ahead of us! On Saturday you can find us at South of the James, and it’s the opening weekend for the West End Farmer’s Market. We will also be at Arts in the Park on both Saturday and Sunday! And it’s the weekend that so many of our regular customers have been waiting for… the release of our Goat Milk Lotion!!

    Arts in the ParkApril 30th – May 1st

    Arts in the Park

    11am-6pm (Sat), 11am-5pm (Sun)

    At the Carillon in Byrd Park

    We are FINALLY releasing our Goat Milk Lotion. We have worked incredibly hard on the recipe for our lotion and we cannot wait for you all to try it! Check back on Friday for more information. 

  • Where you can find us this Winter…

    Now that most of our regular farmer’s markets are closed for the season and it’s a slow time for craft shows you might be wondering where you can pick up our goat milk soaps over the winter. While we may not be “everywhere” like we are from May through December, we are still very accessible through the Winter.

    You can still find us every Saturday at South of the James. It’s now the Winter Market and the hours have changed to 9am-12pm. There is a great group of vendors there throughout the winter, so it is well worth the trip!

    The West End Farm Markets, our other regular Saturday market through the Spring and Summer, has a pop up winter market on the second Saturday of each month. The market runs from 10am-12pm. We will be at each of the pop-up markets, provided it’s not raining. Tents are prohibited at the pop-up markets making it impossible for us to attend in inclement weather.

    Several stores throughout Virginia carry our soaps. Check out the “Where to Buy” section of our website to find all of the locations were our soap can be found!

  • What’s Up Wednesday – April 8th

    We are in hyper drive around here. Making soap, making laundry detergent, caring for the farm, working in garden… It’s crazy!!

    We are preparing for Spring Bada-Bing and South of the James this week. If you’ve never been to one of the Craft Mafia Craft shows I am here to tell you that they are fantastic. The quality of vendors is outstanding and they always end up being really big days for us. Then of course there is South of the James, where we are every Saturday. The market is really picking up (not that it was ever really slow) because of the warmer weather. More vendors are coming and a lot more people are showing up! That market is full of life and the vendors are amazing. We plan to sell a lot of goat milk soap this weekend!

    The garden is quickly coming together. We are having to prep beds in the big garden as we are transplanting. We have things that need to go in the ground already and 24 4’x25′ beds that needed to be prepped. Each bed takes around 2-3 hours to do as we break up dirt clumps, pull weeds and even out the dirt. Since this is a new area that has never been gardened before clearing out the weeds and grass is a big chunk of that time. There was just no way we were going to get all the beds prepped and done before the plants needed to go in. So we are going bed by bed, prepping then planting. So far we have a ton of cabbages, potatoes, and broccoli in the ground in the new big garden and potatoes, cabbages, swish chard, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, beets, turnips, radishes, strawberries, peas, and spinach in the smaller raised bed garden that we have been planting in for years. We still have hundreds upon hundreds of plants that need to go into the big garden, many that are still in our friend’s green house that we are using. It’s hard not to feel incredibly fortunate as you are putting nourishing, healthy foods into the ground. It’s a wonderful feeling.

  • Saturday Events – February 21st

    We have a really fun weekend ahead of us! I’ve been looking forward to the Bluegrass festival for weeks! We hope that you will come out to see us at one of these great events:

    • South of the James – 9am – 12pm – Forest Hill Park – New Kent Ave & 42nd Street, Richmond VA
    • Richmond Bluegrass Festival – The Cultural Art Center of Glen Allen – 12pm – 12am –  2880 Mountain Rd. Glen Allen, VA 23060

  • Saturday Events – February 14

    Valentines day is this Saturday! Are you in need of a last minute Valentines gift? You’re in luck! We are in two locations this Saturday. Goat milk soaps make a great gift.

    • South of the James – 9am – 12pm – Forest Hill Park – New Kent Ave & 42nd Street, Richmond VA
    • West End Farmers Market – Pop-up Market – 10am-12pm – 12450 Gayton Rd. Henrico, VA 23238

  • Saturday Events – February 7th

    Over the next few weekends we will be in multiple locations… Meaning lots of chances to pick up Valentines gifts and lots of fun events to attend! This weekend, February 7th, we will be two places:

    • South of the James – 9am – 12pm – Forest Hill Park – New Kent Ave & 42nd Street, Richmond VA
    • Midnight Brewery – 1-4pm – 2410 Granite Ridge Rd, Rockville, VA 23146

    I hope you come out to see us!

  • The Week Ahead – December 15th – 21st

    This is the last week to get our soap for Christmas gifts! Who doesn’t love receiving handmade, local goat milk soap? It’s a great stocking stuffer or teacher gift!

    Saturday December 20th  – South of the James Farmer’s Market – 9am – 12pm – Forest Hill Park – New Kent Ave & 42nd Street, Richmond VA

    Saturday December 20th – Vendor Expo at Midnight Brewery – 1-4pm – 2410 Granite Ridge Rd, Rockville, VA 23146

  • The Week Ahead – December 8th – 14th

    This will be our first week at the South of the James Farmers Market! Come out and see us!

    Saturday December 13th  – South of the James Farmer’s Market – 9am – 12pm – Forest Hill Park – New Kent Ave & 42nd Street, Richmond VA

    Sunday December 14th – Carytown Artisan Market – 10am – 5pm – 3201 West Cary Street, Richmond VA